The Enid Blyton Society

I suppose this is one of those that people would rather not talk about, but I remember a story about a gollwog. He desperately wanted a penknife, but the owner of the shop that sold them had a grudge against gollwogs, so would not serve them. The gollywog decided that he would then break into the shop and steal one. I am pretty certain this was Blyton and I appreciate that this story would either not be published nowadays or drastically altered (probably the former as altering it would ruin it).

Doesn't ring any bells I'm afraid. Maybe someone else will recognise it.

I've had a look around The Cave, but couldn't find anything much from the titles, unless it might be The Silly Golliwog. With no reviews/synopses, it is impossible to tell.

With one or two well knbown exceptions Enid Blyton's golliwogs tend to be good and kind hearted characters. Knives and burglary don't sound Blytonian at all. Perhaps it's another author.

I can't say it sounds like an Enid Blyton story. If she did ever portray Gollies as naughty/bad characters they always got caught and punished, just like any other of her naughty characters. Unless of course the story about the penknife ended with the Golly seeing the error of his ways?

This sounds like one of those exceptions. The story was very Blytonesque, so that it is why I am confident it was her. IIRC it was a short story, as opposed to an entire book.

Yes, it certainly sounds like a short story. It doesn't sound quite like a Blyton story to me, I am sure the Golly would be shown the error of his ways by the end of the story!

The story about Blyton's golliwog brandishing a knife is CERTAINLY not Enid Blyton's.Blyton portrays all her golliwog as loving, friendly helpful.There are a few stories about naughty golliwogs but they learn a good lesson in the end.Your story is certainly not by Blyton..There are hardly any knives or guns in any of her books---except for ''Five Go Off In A Caravan''---where Lou threatens the 5 with a gun but Timmy ,George's beloved dog takes care of it. In 'The Island Of Adventure '' too Jo-Jo--leaves them all in the caves with a dynamite that will explode anytime---the sea will rush in and they' ll be drowned..But Bill Cunningham's presence of mind saved the situation. Apart from these minor incidents Enid Blyton does not resort to any violence.---always,calm,,peaceful,friendly.I loved her in life and I love her more in death.

Whilst I don't think the story mentioned is an Enid Blyton one, I'd have to disagree that she portrayed all her Gollys as good characters. Certainly there were several in the Noddy books which were rather naughty.

As for her books not being violent, I would say it depends on what is classed as violence. There are many cases of children having their ears boxed, Timmy is threatened with a gun on several occasions, there is poisoned meat offered to him, presumably with a view to killing him. I seem to recall he receives a blow to the head in one book which leaves him with concussion.

Then there are the occasions when children are tied up tightly, and in some cases locked up without food or water for several days. Then there are all the occasions when children receive slaps. I too love her books, but I wouldn't say they are always calm, peaceful and friendly.

I'm just wondering Nair if you are mainly reading modern copies of the books which have often had the text altered?

Plenty of violence in Enid's books - the good thing is that the villains always got their come-uppance. In Five on Kirrin Island Again, one of the villains fired his gun in the caves making George and Timmy jump - he later said to his accomplice, that "of course" he would have killed the dog had he seen him.

SPOILER ALERT!!!



I've just finished reading the Society Publication of The Univited Guest, which ends with a small girl fetching her father's revolver from his bedroom and pointing it at a burglar, until help comes and he is removed from the premises.

OK, no shots were fired, so not violence as such, but the threat was indicated. I think the burglar would probably have been terrified the gun would go off accidently.

No, I have all vintage editions.Yes, some of the golliwogs are portrayed as naughty--- regarding ''violence''---In ''Secret Room'' the villians box Fatty's ears when he is caught,Ern is caned by Goon in ''Hidden House''-in the school stories Carlotta slaps Alison for being a ''little peacock''--- in Malory Towers Darrel Rivers slaps Sally by the swimming pool---Iam not delving into the plots and spoiling them for those who have not read.But ,honestly, I somehow would not call all this ''violence''---Violence is when a person is murdered or left to die in a brutal way.There is absolutely nothing like that in Blyton stories.In ''strange Messages''-- ''Missing Necklace'' Fatty is at the receiving end of blows--- but he recovers and is as fit as a fiddle in a short while.A little bit of rough and tough treatment also adds to the excitement.That is my opinion.

You have a different idea of violence to me, then!

Violence is "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation." This definition associates intentionality with the committing of the act itself, irrespective of the outcome it produces.

- Wikipedia


Noun
Behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something.
Strength of emotion or an unpleasant or destructive natural force.

-google

Nobody has to die for it to be violence.

Any punch, slap or kick intended to hurt is violence.